


Human Shield

by bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid



Series: Solitude is Creativity's Best Friend [9]
Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: F/M, Hurt Barry Allen, Iris' POV, Team as Family, barry being the self sacrificing hero as usual
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-25
Updated: 2020-04-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:07:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,324
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23830561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid/pseuds/bowties_Scarves_and_Plaid
Summary: The team is helping Barry stop a jewelry store robbery when he suddenly stops answering over comms.
Relationships: Barry Allen/Iris West
Series: Solitude is Creativity's Best Friend [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1670578
Comments: 1
Kudos: 33





	Human Shield

“No sign of our robber,” Barry whispered into the comms, walking quietly around the jewelry store.

Iris always hated the suspense that came with listening to her husband run into an unknown situation. Something about this robbery felt wrong. Usually, when Barry sped into an active robbery he was shot at immediately. This time, however, the place seemed like a ghost town. Iris wanted to tell Barry to get out of there, but she knew he would never listen to her, not when he had an opportunity to stop dangerous people.

“There’s someone else here,” Barry said, and his breathing picked up slightly like it did whenever he ran. Iris waited with bated breath for the telltale signs of the Flash fighting an enemy.

But there was only silence.

Iris looked around at Cisco, Frost, and Ralph. They all looked as confused as she felt.

“Flash? What is going on?” Iris called. “Barry? Barry!” She looked at his biometrics and saw that nothing was out of the ordinary.

“Why isn’t he responding?” Ralph asked, looking at Cisco.

“I don’t know,” Cisco was furiously typing at the computer. “Nothing is wrong with our communication system and everything is saying that Barry is perfectly healthy.”

“Barry, please respond,” Iris felt herself growing desperate, but she told herself that she needed to remain calm for the sake of team Flash.

“Could he have lost his communicator?” Frost asked.

“Well his communicator is in his mask, so the only way he could’ve lost it is if it had gotten ripped off…” Cisco said, a heavy silence following his words as they all considered the implications of that.

“We need to get down there,” Iris said. 

“I’ll get my Vibe suit,” Cisco said. 

“Barry? Are you there?” Iris couldn’t help but try again while they waited for Cisco, but just like before, there was no response from her husband.

Just as Cisco walked back into the room, an alarm went off on their monitors. Cisco ran over to the computer to see what it was.

“There is a 9-1-1 call from the location of the jewelry store. They say that the Flash is down and the robber got away,” Cisco said. Iris looked back at Barry’s normal biometrics in confusion. Was something wrong with his suit? The image of Barry bleeding out without them even knowing appeared inside her head.

“We need to get down there now,” Iris repeated. She knew that she should probably stay at Star Labs and oversee everything from there. They had no idea what situation they were walking into and she wasn’t a superhero. But Barry was in trouble and she needed to get to him.

Cisco opened the breach, and they all jumped into it. They landed in a dark store. Iris could see a few smashed display cases, but there were no other signs of life. The four of them split up to search the store. Iris’ fear grew with each passing millisecond.

“I’ve got something,” Killer Frost said. “In the back room.”

Iris turned and ran, her stomach dropping when she entered the room and took in the scene in front of her. Barry was lying motionless on the floor, there was a woman kneeling next to him, holding his hand and crying softly. Iris ran over and dropped down on the other side of her husband. She quickly looked over him but couldn’t find any visible signs of injury.

"Flash? Flash!" Iris leaned over him and patted his cheek gently. When she received no response from him, she looked him over again, but there was no damage to the suit and his breathing and heart rate were steady. Iris took Barry's hand and squeezed it. "Please wake up," She said in almost a whisper.

"I can't...he w-won't wake..." The woman across from them said tearfully.

“What happened?” Ralph asked the woman in a gentle tone.

“He-he s-saved me,” The woman cried, not looking away from the Flash’s still form.

“Take a deep breath...there you go. Can you tell us your name?”

“A-Anne”

“Good, now Anne, how about you start from the beginning,” Ralph coaxed. Every fiber in Iris’ being wanted to snap at the woman to just tell her what the hell was wrong with her husband, but she knew that would not help. The woman was obviously in shock and needed some time. She was glad that Ralph was there to patiently talk Anne through it.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cisco scanning some kind of device over Barry’s body. She also saw Frost look at Barry's still form and then turn and leave the room without a single word. Iris felt a pang of anger and sadness at that, she’d thought Frost was getting better at the whole team thing, but apparently not.

“I w-was the one closing the store today, I took the money from the safe to the bank afterward. I got all the way to the bank b-before I realized I forgot the deposit slip. They won’t let me deposit the money without it so I had to come all the way back here,” Anne spoke, her words growing steadier as she continued. “I was back in this office when I heard a crash from the front. I immediately tripped our silent alarm. I hid behind the desk, but eventually, she came into this room and found me.”

“It’s okay, you’re doing great,” Ralph encouraged when she paused.

“I screamed, but to be honest, she looked about as startled to see me as I was her. She was wearing a mask, but I could tell she was young. She held her hand up at me and this weird squiggly light came out of it. I think I closed my eyes, but I opened them back up when I heard a loud thump. That’s when I saw Flash lying on the floor. Again the girl looked as scared as I was at having hit the Flash. She turned and bolted as fast as she could. I called 9-1-1 and then a minute later you guys arrived. His pulse is steady and he’s breathing, but I can’t wake him up,” Anne added.

Iris, who’d already checked those things, nodded in agreement. A second later, Caitlyn Snow walked in the door.

“Frost came and got me, she thought this one might need my touch,” Caitlyn said, surveying Barry with grim eyes. Iris felt a wave of gratitude for Frost and regretted having doubted her. Her fear for Barry was overshadowing her better judgment. “We need to get him back to base,” Caitlyn continued.

“Who are you people?” Anne asked. Iris ducked her head slightly as the woman looked at them, not wanting to be recognized as either the chief's daughter or the creator or the Central City Citizen which so often reported on the Flash.

“Team Flash,” Cisco said seriously. “Tell the police everything you saw here, including the fact that Flash is now in the safe care of his team.

Ralph and Cisco bent down to pick up Barry between them, forcing Iris and Anne to let go of his hands.

“W-when he wakes up, tell him I’m sorry,” Anne stammered as she stood up.

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for, saving people is what The Flash does,” Iris said, finally finding her voice. As much as she hated hearing that Barry had yet again jumped in between someone and a dangerous meta, she was not at all surprised. This was not the first time Barry had used himself as a human shield and it certainly wasn't going to be the last. When given the choice, Barry would always choose to save someone, even if it meant putting himself in danger.

“Then, in that case, tell him thanks for me, and if he ever wants to get hitched, I’ll hook him up with a good deal on a ring,” Anne called out as Cisco opened up a breach. Iris nodded and let out a watery laugh before following her team into the breach.

They got Barry out of his suit and situated in the med bay in record time. Since they didn’t know what was wrong with him, they weren’t really sure if it was a time-sensitive matter. To be safe, they were operating as quickly as possible.

“Nothing’s wrong with the sensors in Barry’s suit,” Caitlyn said after a few minutes of examination. “He’s perfectly healthy.”

“Perfectly healthy people don’t just keel over unconscious,” Cisco pointed out unhelpfully.

“I know that,” Caitlyn ground out. “I need to scan his brain to get more information.”

She busied around the room with Cisco assisting her while Iris simply sat next to Barry and held his limp hand. She knew she should be doing something to help, but she just couldn’t make herself leave the stool next to the bed. She didn't want to look away from his face in case she missed the second his green eyes opened up.

“Hey, Ralph and Joe and all the other cops in the city are out looking for this girl. They’ll find her and then they’ll get the truth about what she did to Barry,” Cisco reassured her like he’d been reading her mind. “And even if they don’t, there’s never been a meta mystery I haven’t been able to solve, and I’m not about to start now,” He added with a smile to lighten the mood slightly. Iris gave him a smile but she knew it didn’t reach her eyes.

“No matter how many times I see him like this, it doesn’t get any easier,” She said softly.

“I know,” Cisco said and squeezed her shoulder.

“That’s odd,” Caitlyn muttered and brought both of their attention to her. “Barry’s brain scans are reading as if he were awake.” Iris quickly looked back at her husband, but he was sleeping away, the same as before.

“How is that possible?” Iris asked.

“I’m not sure...let me try something,” Caitlyn took a small needle and pricked Barry’s finger, studying his brain scan closely.

“His pain center didn’t light up,” Cisco noticed.

“He’s not reacting to stimuli that are actually happening. It’s like the meta caught him in some kind of dream world, except tricked his brain into thinking it was real.”

“How do we get him out of it?” Iris asked, glad that they were finally getting answers, but still eager to find an actual solution.

“You don’t,” the three of them jumped in surprise when a quiet voice came from the doorway. They turned to see a young girl, maybe 14, looking at them sheepishly.

“You’re the one who did this”

“What do you mean we don’t?”

“How did you get in here?” Caitlyn, Iris, and Cisco all started talking at the same time.

“No, sorry, what I meant is that he’ll get himself out of it. They always do. Eventually, something in the perfect reality their brain has constructed doesn’t match with real life and they realize it’s fake. I just wanted to come here and tell you not to worry. The Flash is fine, he’ll wake up soon,” The girl said and with that, she turned to leave. Iris let go of Barry’s hand and stood up in shock.

“Oh, no you don’t,” Cisco said, jumping up to block her path. “We’re gonna need a whole lot more than that.”

The girl looked like she might whammy him for a second and then she deflated with a sigh. Cisco led her back into the room and she told them her story:

Her name was Abigail and she’d developed these powers a few months ago. Her parents had been mugged in front of her and in her terror, she’d sent the assailants into the sleep. Everyone had thought they’d slipped into an irreversible coma until a few days later when they’d woken up. Abby’s parents had stayed silent about her part in the ordeal, claiming some random vigilante had put the robbers to sleep. But even though they protected her, they never looked at her the same way. After a month of closed doors, hushed whispers, and frightened looks, Abby had run away. She’d survived for a little while until she ran out of money. Then she was desperate enough to rob the jewelry store. She’d chosen a place she’d hoped wouldn’t have anyone inside. She didn’t want to put anyone to sleep if she didn’t have to. Then, she’d run into Anne and her hand had been forced. But to her surprise, The Flash had acted as a human shield and ran into her power instead.

“I look up to the Flash. He protects people with his powers. I never meant to use mine on him. I know I shouldn’t have been using them on anybody, I just didn’t know what to do,” Abigail sounded genuinely heartbroken and Iris had a sudden urge to gather the girl in her arms. The only thing that stopped her was knowing she’d trapped her husband in some kind of dream reality.

“We’ll help you,” everyone jumped when Barry’s voice sounded from behind them. Iris turned in shock to see Barry standing firmly upright.

“Barry!” She cried and launched herself into his arms. He caught her and held her tightly with a small laugh. "You pulled yourself out of the dream!"

“Yes, no dream can match how good my reality is," Barry said and gave Iris a soft kiss, "I’m okay Iris, really,” he let her cling to him for another minute before gently pulling away and placing his hands on her shoulders. “She didn’t hurt me and we are going to help her.” It wasn’t a question, but Barry’s eyes were still seeking her approval. Iris wrapped an arm around his waist and turned to face Abby, who was watching them nervously with wide eyes.

“Of course we are,” Iris said with a smile.


End file.
